No Clowning Around This Time!

So... right after my last big project — creating 30 custom Knock Down Dolls — I had to go right into a marathon of Art Doll making! With only 17 days until a gallery submission deadline, there was no clowning around for this girl. I had to accomplish what had previously taken me more than 3 times that to do! So... I neglected housecleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, the beach (that one hurt a little!), and I worked night and day, sleeping a lot less than usual... for more than two weeks! But I did it. I created 9 dolls from start to finish in that amount of time. It was a whirlwind of art making, but at the same time it was an incredible journey...

I'm not a big fan of being on an extremely tight deadline. I'm definitely more from the camp that "art takes as long as it takes." Because... well... it does!

However... needing to create quickly helped to keep me from overthinking things. Bonus! I'm definitely an overthinker... pondering the many, many facets for each stage of dollmaking. But I didn't have that luxury this time, and it kind of turned out to be a blessing. I committed to my decisions more quickly... and without much regret. Double bonus!

At times I felt like I was possessed... or that I had sold my soul to the devil. But that was okay, because My Devil Is Da Bomb! Not only do I love making these dolls, but I enjoy coming up with whimsically clever names for them as well. From a design standpoint, don't ask my why my devil has glitter star pasties and a feather boa skirt. That's just my very odd brain hard at work!

Have you ever made a Snow Angel? Yeah... me too! I couldn't very well have a devil without an angel.... so I thought I'd make her white as snow. For good contrast. With a recycled blouse as her gown, some vintage jewelry to keep her afro in check, a repurposed bow, and pearls from my stash... she really is angelic.

For a long time I didn't like my Tooth Fairy. She was a toughie. But I gave her a tulle shawl to match her tutu, a vintage jewel for her halter top and a couple of adorable blue bows for her hair buns... and I fell in love. I actually won't stop — on any of my dolls — until I fall in love. This just took a bit more falling until the love part.

Having grown up near the boardwalks — and knowing that the gallery show would be for two summer months — I had to include some circus-carnival-inspired pieces. Welcome To The Big Top was one of my favorite ideas and I really enjoyed making her a circus tent style dress! Oh, and that hair! Totally over the top.... just how I like it.

And sticking with the circus theme, Dottie The Clown might just be my favorite doll from this group. This tender heart touched my heart the most. So much emotion from that face!

And from the whimsical — and more delicious — memories of my boardwalk days... came Candy Apple. I actually used to eat those things until I felt like I was going to break my teeth one day. So I switched to caramel. That art doll will be next!

And of course, no boardwalk, carnival or circus visit would be complete without an Oops! I Dropped My Ice Cream moment! I can say that I have dropped my ice cream before. And yes... I scooped up the part not touching the ground and resumed eating — without so much as skipping a beat!

So that's a sneak peek at some of the dolls I created for this series. And I am so excited to share with you that Torche' Galerie in Belmar, NJ has accepted all 9 of my dolls for their summer show! I am thrilled beyond words!! You can see the dolls in person at the exhibit opening on Saturday, July 12th, from 7-10. I'll let you know all the details as we get closer!

Braaaaain Freeeeeze!

There once was a girl who wandered through the ice cream forest... but all she came back with was brain freeze!

For my most recent jaunt into journaling... I sprayed inks, made marks, pasted ephemera, painted swatches of color, and stamped 'til my heart's content. The pink overpainted map and placement of the ice cream cone got me thinking.

I'll make that her nose and she can really be a brain freeze girl! Can't you just feel the ice cream headache? Owwwww.

The page and the girl evolved as I went along, evening out the color scheme and blending elements together, while adding new ones to the page as well.

I figured I'd give her some pistachio hair to match the ice cream.

And then I added some funky Brain Freeze text. Although, I must have had brain freeze when I wrote it... because I spelled it wrong!! Oh well. I'll just pretend I was doing what the quilters do and putting one mistake in my piece "on purpose". Hee-hee!

I had a lot of fun with this piece and instinctively knew when to stop messing with it. I also used a color palette that was out of my comfort zone and I'm actually happy with the way it turned out. On to the next project... hmmmmm, what's next?

Brushing Up... or is it Penciling Up?

Any time I get the chance or need a break from painting, jewelry, dollmaking, or anything that involves multiple tools and supplies.... I like to practice my drawing skills. Truth be told, I got into mixed-media because it was an excuse not to draw. Making stuff out of other stuff was way easier for me than drawing from scratch. But I have to say that every time I go to put pencil to paper... I still get scared! But I'm getting braver. For the cupcake sketch, I actually pulled out one of my many cupcake cookbooks and drew from a photo.

I had so much fun with that I thought I'd draw some my favorite boardwalk and carnival food items... and tried my hand at this double scoop ice cream on a sugar cone. I'm trying to get better at facial expressions, so I thought having the bottom scoop being unhappily squished and the top scoop having a snarky grin, reveling in the fact that she's on top would be cute.

So what next? A candy apple of course! Once I finished this little guy, I thought it needed a fun text treatment to balance it out. So I got on my computer and stylized some text, printed it out and traced it onto my drawing. Filling in the letters was kind of therapeutic because I didn't really have to worry about shading... just a light hand for the center and a heavier hand for the darker outline.

So when I have some extra time, my new favorite guilty pleasure is grabbing a pencil and my sketchbook and brushing up on some penciling.

Thoughtful Thursdays: Fabulous Fabric!

I'm not sure what it is about fabric... but I love it! All those amazing colors and patterns! New styles. Vintage linens. Mixing and matching swatches until my heart's content. I must confess though... I collected fabric for years before I even knew what to do with it. All I knew was that if I saw a piece of material that took my breath away... I had to own it!

I had so much fun making those rag dolls recently, that I went kinda crazy. I bought all sorts of fabric from 3 different stores... I rifled through my decades-old collection of vintage textiles... and even ripped up a few pieces of my own clothing!

My whole downstairs became a doll-making factory! The dining room table turned into a pattern station. The kitchen table became an assembly area. And when I ran out of room there, I broke out the ironing board (of course for crafts only, not for actually ironing clothes!), and turned that into a makeshift workstation.

I used combinations of fabrics that worked perfectly together and some that looked rather odd, but in a cool kinda way. I made dolls that looked like people, and turned inanimate objects into funny-faced figures as well. When all was said and done, I had made patterns and cut out pieces for more than 20 dolls!

So I guess I better get on that sewing machine and get some of these guys done lickety split! Craft Show season is soon approaching!

We All Scream for Ice Cream...

Recently I sketched this argyle ice cream cone and wanted to turn it into something fun. I actually tried a 5" x 7" watercolor version... but I did not like that at all! So I decided to fall back on my favorite techniques... mixed media and acrylics! And I was going BIG...

I wanted a fun and whimsical background, so I decorated this 16" x 20" canvas with a mottled pink background, made some paper peppermint swirl candy, and sprinkled in varying sizes of white stars for visual contrast.

I transferred a gigantic version of the argyle ice cream cone sketch and started to mask it off. I seem to  be building on other techniques I've tried out lately! Wasn't sure how far to go, but I did want to keep the background elements showing through.

Then it was time for a nice, thick, dark, black outline of acrylic paint. I wanted it to look like a silkscreen image and really stand out against the super sweet background. I was very pleased when it turned out so well. Oh... and the smiley face... well, that just happened. Totally unplanned... but this delightful painting was just begging for a kawaii-style happy face! And it won.

Next up...  I think maybe a cotton candy with gumdrops in the background!